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The New York Times reports on indie-rock experimentation and trademark law.

Postal Service Tale: Indie Rock, Snail Mail and Trademark Law

November 6, 2004
By BEN SISARIO

About two and a half years ago, Jimmy Tamborello and Ben
Gibbard began to make music together despite the distance
between them. Mr. Tamborello, who makes electronica with a
group called Dntel, lived in Los Angeles, while Mr.
Gibbard, who sings in the emo band Death Cab for Cutie,
lived in Seattle. They sent each other music through the
mail, completing songs bit by bit, and after about five
months, they had finished an album.

In honor of their working method they called themselves the
Postal Service. Their album, "Give Up," was released by the
Seattle-based Sub Pop Records in early 2003 and became an
indie-rock hit, eventually selling almost 400,000 copies,
the label's second biggest seller ever, after Nirvana's
"Bleach."

Then they heard from the real Postal Service, in the form
of a cease-and-desist letter.

"It was really polite," said Tony Kiewel, an artist and
repertory representative at Sub Pop who works with the
band. "It said that the Postal Service is a registered
trademark of the United States Postal Service, and that
though they were very, very flattered that we were using
the name, they need to enforce their copyright."

The letter arrived in August 2003, and for months the label
and the band fretted over the consequences: Would the band
have to change its name? Would Sub Pop have to destroy its
stock of the album?

The outcome was as unusual as the band itself: this week
the United States Postal Service - the real one, as in
stamps and letters - signed an agreement with Sub Pop
granting a free license to use the name in exchange for
working to promote using the mail. Future copies of the
album and the group's follow-up work will have a notice
about the trademark, while the federal Postal Service will
sell the band's CD's on its Web site, potentially earning a
profit. The band may do some television commercials for the
post office.

The group also agreed to perform at the postmaster
general's annual National Executive Conference in
Washington on Nov. 17. The attendees might not realize what
a rare treat they are in for since the Postal Service does
not play many gigs. Mr. Tamborello and Mr. Gibbard are busy
with their regular bands: Dntel, with its atmospheric
electronic dance music, and Death Cab for Cutie, which has
become a college rock favorite for its heartfelt, jangly
punk rock known as emo.

Gary Thuro, a manager of communications for the United
States Postal Service who handles licensing and promotion,
said the publicity would be valuable.

"We're always looking for ways to extend our brand and
reach into areas we don't typically reach," he said, "like
teens and people in their 20's, who are typically doing
business online and are not familiar with the Postal
Service."

Not familiar with the Postal Service?

"I have three kids, and they do most of their
correspondence online," Mr. Thuro said.

He said the post office had been looking to promote its
brand through popular culture tie-ins and cited the
campaign for the 2003 film "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat."
The post office is ending its sponsorship of Lance
Armstrong's cycling team at the end of this year.

The agency's only concern, Mr. Thuro said, was that a rock
band might prove an inappropriate mascot for a federal
agency. But when executives met with Mr. Tamborello and Mr.
Gibbard in Los Angeles earlier this year, they were set at
ease. Soft-spoken, well groomed and unusually polite, they
are two of the least offensive rock stars imaginable, and
their music - bubbly yet pensive electronic pop with
earnest vocals by Mr. Gibbard - is unlikely to dissuade
anyone from buying stamps.

Mr. Tamborello, 29, said the band was happy to comply with
the agreement.

"Doing promos for the post office seems a little bit
weird," he said. "But it's a funny story for them to have -
it's a good story of how you can still use normal snail
mail."

He noted that the regular mail is inexpensive and easy to
use, and that packages containing their working discs
arrived in a couple of days, a comfortable margin for their
unhurried schedule - although when finishing the album,
they did use Federal Express a couple of times.

"Just to get it back and forth as quick as possible," he
said. "It saved a day."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company